Does Class Size Matter?

Do you feel comfortable with large class settings? Are you able to pay attention with a larger number of students in class? Does the number of students impact the teacher’s ability to teach and administer help? More often than not teachers have a difficult time teaching a large number of students. In return students have a hard time being in classes that includes a large number of their peers. This can be a distraction for both students and teachers and can generate a less effective learning and teaching environment. Both the student and the teacher should be able to get the most out of the few hours that they share every week during the school year. Students struggle to learn and the teacher struggles with making sure they’re reaching every student’s needs by giving them the most of the learning experience.

Schools will often increase class size for many reasons. This could be due to budgets, school expansions, lack of instructors and even an over population of students in the school’s system. However, all of these reasons don’t help students further their education. When there are a lot of students in class the teacher might move faster to get through the lesson so that every student is caught up. According to www. education.seattlepi.com “A study conducted by three professors at the University of London found that in larger classrooms, students were less engaged. What was most surprising to the professors was that students who were disengaged were the ones struggling the most in school.”

The overwhelming number of students in the classroom can cause anxiety amongst students and be a distraction when some students are talkative or constantly seeking attention from the instructor. Small class sizes would better benefit students so that they get the most from the classes being taught. They could create more sound learning relationships with instructors and even with one another. Having peer help is also an advantage.

Teachers are negatively affected by large class sizes in schools. Having a larger group of students doesn’t allow teachers to build relationships with their students and it increases their work load. Teachers can be placed under a lot of pressure to meet all of the needs of the school, class and students. These larger classes make it more challenging for discussions to be conducted and for teachers to answer questions the students may have. According to www. www.greatschools.org“Smaller classes allow teachers to devote more time to instruction and less time to classroom management which improves teacher morale and retention as a result of class size reduction.” If a teacher has a substantial amount of papers to grade who’s to say if the papers are being graded efficiently. In this case not only does the teacher not benefit in skills but nor does the student by not getting all of the help that they need with assignments.

Having class sizes that are reasonable and manageable for both students and teachers could surely improve the quality of learning. No teacher deserves to have their skills diminished by the stress of a large classroom. No student deserves to have their right to learn risked because of a large classroom setting. Keeping moderate instructional settings would help improve student/teacher relationships, allow teachers to have more one on one time with a student, and allow teachers to effectively teach and grade work. It’s a winning situation for both parties.

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